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limits?

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:01 pm
by s.dot
I've seen several statements saying something like "databases have the potential to store possibly millions of records".

Is there a theoretical upper limit on the number of records a database can have?

[[mostly just talking mysql databases]]

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:08 pm
by feyd
Not really, no. I remember some text on MySQL's documentation and such that said they have had reports of people having millions of records in tables with no problems or something..

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/features.html (Handles large databases)

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:13 pm
by s.dot
So I guess the maximum size is not determined upon # of records, but the size of data.

After reading the following excerpt though, I don't think anyone should be concerned about database sizes. :P
MySQL 3.22 had a 4GB (4 gigabyte) limit on table size. With the MyISAM storage engine in MySQL 3.23, the maximum table size was increased to 65536 terabytes (2567 – 1 bytes). With this larger allowed table size, the maximum effective table size for MySQL databases is usually determined by operating system constraints on file sizes, not by MySQL internal limits.
I mostly just asked because I was curious. Food for me brainnn.

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:20 pm
by s.dot
although I can't find the limits for filesizes on a freebsd system (would probably have to search around on freebsd.org)

i can see my database possibly reaching a 2gb size in a couple of years.. nothing to be immediately concerned about though.